If an argument is an array or reference, only values in that array or reference are used. Empty cells and text values in the array or reference are ignored.

Arguments that are error values or text that cannot be translated into numbers cause errors.

If you do not want to include logical values and text representations of numbers in a reference as part of the calculation, use the VARP function.

The equation for VARPA is :

where x is the sample mean AVERAGE(value1,value2,…) and n is the sample size.

Example

Copy the example data in the following table, and paste it in cell A1 of a new Excel worksheet. For formulas to show results, select them, press F2, and then press Enter. If you need to, you can adjust the column widths to see all the data.

Strength

1345

1301

1368

1322

1310

1370

1318

1350

1303

1299

Formula

Description

Result

=VARPA(A2:A11)

Variance of breaking strengths for all the tools, assuming that only 10 tools are produced (entire population).

678.84

=VAR(A2:A11)

This example uses the VAR function, which assumes a sample of the population, and returns a different result.